Blue Is Us
by Ryeloza
Summary: Shopping for a new couch takes an unforeseen turn.


**Disclaimer: **_Desperate Housewives _isn't mine.

**Story Summary: **Shopping for a new couch takes an unforeseen turn. A pre-series fic.

**Blue Is Us**

A story by **Ryeloza**

"Oh! This one's leather."

Lynette wrinkled her brow as Tom flopped down on the couch and sighed contentedly, as though that was going to convince her to bring this black monstrosity into their home. He grinned and patted the space beside him. "Come on. It's not going to bite."

"It looks like it belongs in a porno."

"That's part of the appeal."

"Right." Unwilling to indulge this ridiculousness, Lynette stepped over to the next display and sat down on a lush cream colored couch that couldn't have been more impractical for a house with three small boys. Tom stared at her, scoffing incredulously. "What?" she asked, innocently shrugging a shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?"

"It's beautiful."

Tom stood, shaking his head as he walked toward her. "No way." He reached out a hand and pulled her up off of the couch. "If I can't get that, you can't get this."

"Fine." Lynette sighed to cover her smile. Sometimes it was almost too easy to get him to bend to her will. "We're agreed then: no leather."

"No froof-froof girly couches."

"Deal."

Tom gave her a slightly wary look, clearly off-put by how easily she'd acquiesced, and Lynette gently patted his cheek. As he stared down at her, the smirk she'd been fighting suddenly broke through and his eyes widened accusingly. "You are not a froof-froof girl."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah. Sure."

"Well I'm also not a porn star. And neither are you. So let's call it even." Lynette stepped away, wandering through the maze of living room displays. They'd been shopping for an hour already with no luck, unable to find anything that struck the balance of aesthetic appeal and practicality for their kids. It also didn't help that other than the nursery furniture they'd picked out three years ago they'd never really picked out furniture together before. Most of what they had now was an eclectic mix of her old things and his. Lynette hadn't really anticipated that this would be as hard as it was.

"You know," said Tom conversationally as he lengthened his stride to catch up to her, "I've been thinking. Parker turns two in a couple weeks."

"Yeah. I vaguely recall giving birth to him."

"And the twins will be four in February."

"Uh-huh." Lynette glanced at a green and brown patterned couch and dismissed it as quickly as it had caught her eye. They'd have to repaint if they went that direction, and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with. Tom paused, catching her hand and forcing her attention toward him. There was a sudden seriousness in his eyes that hadn't been there before, and she frowned apprehensively. "What's going on?"

"I've been thinking: now would be the perfect time to try for another baby."

"What?"

"Just hear me out."

"Another baby?"

"You told me you wanted a little girl, and I've always wanted a daughter—"

"You want to have another baby?"

Tom hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. Lynette managed to keep her composure for almost thirty seconds before her knees went weak and she sank down onto the nearest couch. Unflinchingly, Tom sat down next to her, grasping her hands again and squeezing them encouragingly. "The timing is perfect," he babbled. "We both agreed that it was better to have the kids close together, and if we start trying now you won't have to be pregnant during the summer like last time—"

"How long have you been thinking about this?"

"Just a couple months."

"A couple months? And you brought it up now? Here?"

"Yeah." He said it as though this was the obvious place to start this discussion; as though every day couples sat down in the middle of a furniture store and talked about having another kid. "I know you said that you don't want to have any more kids—"

"I don't." She looked at him frankly, not wanting to draw this out, not wanting to lead him on as though this were truly a possibility.

"You don't like you really don't, or you don't like you don't want that blue couch I pointed out thirty minutes ago?"

"What does that even mean?"

"Just…Sometimes you say you don't want something, but you really just need to be talked into it. Like, I already know that by not pushing it and pointing out every other ugly couch in this place that we're going to end up with the blue couch."

"That's not true!"

"Well, probably not now that I've pointed it out."

Lynette frowned, bothered primarily by the fact that he was right on both counts. That blue couch had been looking better and better the longer they shopped, and she now very stubbornly wanted to not get it just to prove him wrong. It was disconcerting to know that he could manipulate her as well as she could manipulate him. "What is your point?"

"Sometimes I think you just like to put up a hard time."

"You think I like making my life more difficult?"

"I think you like a good fight." Tom gave her a soft, half-smile. "Remember when we first found out we were going to be parents, and I suggested that you stay home with them? You kept telling me that it was never going to happen, but then we had the twins and you kept putting off going back to work and then finally one day you told me you thought it would be better for the kids if you didn't go back. Which is what I said in the first place. It's like, even if you agree with me, in the end it still has to be your idea."

"I don't think that's fair."

"Sweetie, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings."

She nodded, feeling fairly thrown by his rather accurate description. She liked being right. It was something she'd always known about herself. But this was an extreme she'd never considered, and she wasn't sure that it was true. "Changing my mind…It isn't the same thing, Tom."

"Okay."

"And I don't want to have another baby right now."

"Oh." Tom sank back on the couch, his smile tightening in that way that she knew meant he was covering his disappointment. It hurt her heart even as she knew that she wasn't ready to relent on this point. She felt overwhelmed on a good day with the boys right now; she couldn't imagine mixing another baby into that chaos. He briefly squeezed her hands. "Okay."

Lynette leaned over and kissed him. "It's not because it was your idea," she added quietly. "I just…can't. Not right now."

"No, I know. I understand." He kissed her lips again, then her shoulder, and sighed. "I guess I thought we were on the same page."

"Well…We are about the couch."

"The blue one?"

"Yeah." She smiled hopefully, wanting this small gesture to be enough, but not sure it really meant anything. "Let's get the blue one."


End file.
